I'm seeing some charges that this was a "birther" joke and even that it was racist. I guess it hit a nerve.

Anyway, it's obviously not racist. In fact, it's more racist to call it racist. To see it as racist, you have to have a background belief that to think of someone as a natural-born citizen is to think of him as white. Who thinks that?!

And it's also not "birther" to say what Romney said. A birther is someone who thinks or isn't sure that Obama was born in one of the United States. But the joke doesn't depend on the listener being a birther. You simply have to understand that people had enough questions about where Obama was born that they wanted to see the proof. People don't have those questions about Romney, so no one ever asked him to prove it. That's all Romney said.

Now, we could look more deeply into why people had these questions about Obama. These questions certainly weren't because Obama is black (or half-black). The questions were because his father was not an American citizen, because his mother — and young Obama — lived for a substantial amount of time outside of the United States, and because — to some people at least — Obama hasn't seemed sufficiently American. (He doesn't identify with American exceptionalism, he sat still for "God damn America" sermons, and so forth.)

Romney is saying — in so many words — I'm more truly and fundamentally American than Barack Obama. And the implication is: I want you to think about the ways that Obama hasn't fully embraced American values of freedom, capitalism, etc. etc.

Of course, you don't have to be born in America to have those values. I imagine Ted Cruz has those values, and he was born in Canada. He might make a great Senator from Texas soon, but he can never be President. We don't need to see his birth certificate, because it's no secret. He's not qualified to be President, and it's no disparagement of him to say that. But notably — and pay attention now, because this should help with understanding Romney's joke — no one running against Cruz would make a joke about his being born outside of the United States. Romney's (implicit) joke about Obama works not because of where he was actually born, but because of much more substantive ideas about commitment to foundational American values.

ADDED: Instapundit agrees with me and adds that the press will miss this point and, thinking the joke hurts Romney, will "spread the idea further than Romney could on his own." He also prints email from a reader saying "Why does Ann Althouse assume Ted Cruz is not eligible to be President just because he was born in Calgary? Both of his parents were American at the time of his birth, and his mother was American by birth." I didn't mean to be the first Ted Cruz birther! I agree that if both your parents are American citizens and you are therefore an American citizen at birth, that's good enough for the constitutional requirement.

294 comments:

I started to see the whole Obama birther thing differenty after that story about his agent promoting his "Kenyan birth." Obviously at some point in his career he was tacitly approving such a representation.

o what happened with President Obama? Is he the only president to have a foreign-born parent?

He is the seventh president with at least one foreign-born parent. It has been 76 years since the last: Herbert Hoover had a Canadian-born mother. Woodrow Wilson's mother was English. Chester Arthur and James Buchanan both had Irish fathers. Thomas Jefferson's mother was born in England, and Andrew Jackson's parents were both born in Ireland.

Along with McCain, presidential contender Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico, and Bill Richardson's parents were both foreign-born, his father from Nicaragua and his mother from Mexico.

The New York Times reports, "Mr. Obama, who was born in Hawaii and shared his birth certificate with the national media, has long been dogged with 'birther' rumors, from those who falsely question where he was actually born in the United States."

After all these months of discussion of birther theories, the Times still can't get it right. Pinch, it's not about where in the United States Obama was born, it's about whether he was born in the United States. (BTW, I accept that he was.) Could the reporters at the Times be any more clueless?

That you had to spend nearly 500 words explaining and defending the "joke" portends really bad times ahead for Romney. Especially since he chose to say them on a Friday which means we'll all spend the entire weekend talking about this one "joke" from his entire speech.

It was at least as good as O's joke last week about Mitt and Seamus. Ms. Peggy has a piece online today, urging Mitt to use a little humor to puncture O's self-regard. She says poking fun at O is the surest way to get under his skin, and then, who knows, O might have an Akin-moment (or at least another Quayle-moment).

The Obama Presidency has devided this country like no other. He is fundamentally un-American. The East Coast media elites knew that he had Communist ties but covered it up. They also knew he had militant black connections and did not report it. There is good reasons to question his qualifications to be president including where he was born. But the media continues to cover it up.

Until I see a real birth certificate I will continue to consider the man to be a fraud.

Missy Vixen said... Especially since he chose to say them on a Friday which means we'll all spend the entire weekend talking about this one "joke" from his entire speech.

You and others here might. But the people who truly haven't made up their mind are working, taking their kids to swimming parties, having their fantasy league drafts, and gardening. If they happen to hear anything about it next week they'll think ... "stupid politics" for approximately one second before dismissing.

"That you had to spend nearly 500 words explaining and defending the "joke" portends really bad times ahead for Romney. Especially since he chose to say them on a Friday which means we'll all spend the entire weekend talking about this one "joke" from his entire speech."

What we're talking about -- or really just feeling -- is that Obama might not be sufficiently American. That's what Romney found a way to say with a smile.

It's not about "defending" Romney for telling the joke or explaining the joke. Something has been made a topic: Obama's insufficient commitment to American values.

That was hard to do and Romney did it.

The other side is trying to defend, so we can see that the blow hurt. We can talk about the defenses: Is Romney a birther or a racist?

Isn't his mother from Kansas?, surely one of the most quintessentially American states to readers of this blog. Eh, but no point in mentioning that. Of course no one hears O's midwestern accent either.

You know, it never ever would have occurred to me that with only one American-born parent, I might in any way be less American than someone with two. Seriously. That never occurred to me until reading this very blog post! How crazy is that?

It's just stupid. Talk about entitlements and the economy. Seems like a rookie mistake.

There's a theory that this is Romney giving the excitable media and Obama campaign - but I repeat myself - a juicy-looking squirrel to chase out into traffic, and to get them to stop chewing at the corpse of the Akins senatorial campaign.

(2) there are apparently a few folks who see racism everywhere. Will they please explain to me why 53 percent of the country voted for Mr Obama? While I have no doubt there are some "racists" around, they are clearly not in the majority. (thank Gaia)

Whether or not it is racist, you haven't supported your opinion by inserting the word "obviously."

In fact, it's more racist to call it racist.

Nope. It may be wrong to call Romney's comment racist, but wrongly identifying instances of racism isn't racism.

To see it as racist, you have to have a background belief that to think of someone as a natural-born citizen is to think of him as white. Who thinks that?!

You need to get out more. Certain groups of Americans believe all sorts of stupid shit. There are dolts who are convinced that Obama was born in Kenya. There are idiots who believe in fairies. There are fools who believe the con man Joseph Smith was a prophet. And there are white supremacists. Stupidity isn't rare, and appealing to the stupid shit that Americans believe to get their vote isn't rare either.

There is scientifically measurable differences between the races. This includes crime statistics and I.Q. tests. We need to get over being afraid of being called "racists" when we talk about these differences. Our country can not survive if we allow Affirmative action to continue to place un-qualified people in positions of power that they are not intellecually or morally capable of handling.

Obama plays it both ways. When an exotic background helps him sell books or helps him sell himself as someone with a leg up in foreign expertise, he claims his exotic background. He even exaggerates it.. When someone else claims that this exotic background might give him different instincts and insights than the mainlanders, such a comment is deemed immoral and probably racist. As a handy guide to the confused, please remember that it's ok to point out that Obama is different than us but only in the context of explaining how such differences make him a better person. In like way, it's ok to point out Romney's Mormon religion but only in the context of how weird it is and how weird Romney must be to accept this as his faith.

Obama has no idea where he was born. He was too young back then, to know. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he pitched the Kenyan birth thing to work his affirmative actioned ass through those different colleges withing paying one dime in tuition. He knows how to play those liberal idiots that he met along the way.

"Ann seems to contend that if people don't have her idea of American values, then the appropriate thing to do is to demand to see their birth certificate and then claim it is fake when it is produced."

Actually, since being native born is a requirement I think every candidate should have to produce their birth certificate. Tax returns seem so much less important.

CalypsoSurely you could understand the difference between Romney making a quip about his Mormon undergarments, and Obama saying "At least nobody accuses me of wearing Magic Underwear!", which would be dickish.

It is so engrained that it such folks simply have to see it everywhere.

Such folks are also completely ignorant of basic economics. Douchebag Andy was a great example of that, when he proved his absolute unfamiliarity with the concept of statistical significance a while back.

The truth is, Obama's (half) blackness is the only reason to vote for him, so opposing him is the opposite of racism. He has no other qualifications.

Was that birth certificate joke about Obama ?… or The campaign event was in Michigan afterall.

Questions were occasionally asked about George Romney’s eligibility to run for President in 1968 due to his birth in Mexico, given the ambiguity in the United States Constitution over the phrase “natural-born citizen”. His Mormon paternal grandfather and his three wives had fled to Mexico in 1886, but none of them ever relinquished U.S. citizenship. Romney’s parents chose U.S. citizenship for their children, including George. The family fled Mexico and came to the United States in 1912 during the Mexican Revolution.

Missy Vixen said...That you had to spend nearly 500 words explaining and defending the "joke" portends really bad times ahead for Romney. Especially since he chose to say them on a Friday which means we'll all spend the entire weekend talking about this one "joke" from his entire speech.

One thing I thought was funny. The New York Times story about the Romney speech referred to "those who falsely question whether he [Obama] was actually born in the United States." Rob correctly pointed out way above that the issue was whether, not where, he was born in the United States, but note the word "falsely". You can't "falsely" question something. You can "stupidly" question it, or you can question it "without any reasonable basis", but asking a question can't be "false". The Times must have a style book requirement to include the word "false" whenever a birther charge is reported.

I think they have a similar rule for dissenting opinions on tax policy, climate change, etc.

I am really shocked at this post by Althouse, which is one of the rare times where she shows her ignorance on a subject.

Ted Cruz - A natural born American by jus sanguinis, not the present Birther specious claim that only someone born on US soil is a bonafide US citizen.

PS, Anne, the Mom, Eleanor Darragh, was born and raised in Delaware.

Born in Canada to a naturalized US citizen of Cuban ancestry and a multi-generation in America, American mother of Irish and Italian descent. Up in Canada doing expat work for a petroleum company. Registered as a US citizen at birth, not Canadian.

Liberals don't like to be called liberals. Apparently some of us who simply want to see a real, at-birth-prepared, certificate cannot bear being called "birthers."

It doesn't bother me, because I think the request for a certified photo of the document, supposedly on file in Hawaii, is not an unreasonable expectation. We have seen nothing but digital fakes - so what does that tell you?

The Democrat press will continue to talk down to us "conspiriacy nuts", but they have already consumed the Kool Aid.

BTW, I see that Google Blogger has abandoned that stupid "protection" stuff before we can publish comments. I thought it was just Althouse until I looked at some other Blogger blogs.

When anyone mentions President Obama's birthplace, and everyone in the media hastens to insist (on the basis of no personal knowledge or evidence, since Obama has never released more than a .pdf copy) that of course Obama was born in the US and it is beyond the pale to even ask for proof, I wonder if that doesn't actually create more doubt about Obama's birthplace?

It just seems to me to quickly acquire one of those "methinks the lady doth protest too mightily" sort of vibes.

Full disclosure: I think the issue of Obama's citizenship stopped mattering the moment he was inaugurated, so I don't care one way or the other.

The way I see it, if you ask an innocuous, normal question, and people absolutely overreact in telling you your normal, innocuous question is horrible, racist, unconscionable, etc...doesn't it make you start to wonder what they are hiding?

There is nothing horrible about asking to see President Obama's birth certificate. It is a requirement, and he did sell himself as Kenyan for years.

The fact that liberals and the media (sorry for the redundancy) react as if you want to impose a nationwide flat tax at 10% just makes normal people think they are afraid of further inquiries on the topic.

gadfly, it's a selection in the Blogger template. It can be turned on or off.

you see, gadfly, the blogs gets many more times spam comments as real comments, like your comment, precious thing, so different from spam, that most of them are caught automatically but the spammers are getting more and more clever and the filter is not flawless. My own tiny blog gets at least 15 times as many spam comments as real comments.

Who truely knows, but he probably wants their votes. Riiight...and Obama would of course reject them right? That is if he could tell them apart from all the dead people, illegal immigrants and pets who are going to vote for him...

We birthers believe that the Constitution's requirement that the President be a "natural born citizen," simply means that that person must be the offspring of two citizens. This requirement only applies to the President.

Once you use the race card and it blows up in your face... you cant go back to that well again because it will just start to look like the-sky-is-falling-chicken little-we-are-doomed-every-thing-is-racist refrain.

I started to see the whole Obama birther thing differenty after that story about his agent promoting his "Kenyan birth." Obviously at some point in his career he was tacitly approving such a representation.

Yep. He's definitely been working the racial spoils system his entire life. That's why he is where he is today. I white guy with his skills might be a middle manager in a toothpaste company by now.

My wife spent about 3 hours today driving into LA to the County Registrar to get my new baby's birth certificate, which the insurance company needed to see for some reason in order to get her on the new insurance.

Why? Because the transaction was done online, we're in a big town where not everyone knows each other, and otherwise the person stamping the forms didn't have any idea who we were or if Vianne was our baby and when she got that status.

Be nice to grow up in a town where everyone knows each other. Means you're grounded in the place. And if I were asking for votes in that place, I'd remind people of that.

Why do liberal progressives always want to exempt the Commander In Chief from the rules the troops have to follow?

I asked the same thing about conservatives when Bush was authorizing torture.

It wasn't torture when Pelosi Galore and Dingy Harry signed off on it when they thought their asses were on the line, only when the Lefties were desperate for something they could use to drum up opposition to the campaign in Iraq.

Hawaii was also the front line of America during WWII, so that makes it smack in the heart of our country.

Everyone in his silver-spoon suburb remembers Mitty's birth 'cause daddy was a big wheel at American motors and not some half-breed spawn of a liberal crazy cat-lady and long-dong islam from Ugga-Booga-Land.

Poor John McCain to have been on the receiving end of such vicious racism and to receive -no support what-so-ever in defending him from such vile, vicious racist attacks.- If only we'd been so enlightened then not to devolve to such racism. In the Senate, no less!

garage mahal said...Even dumber than birtherism are the arguments why it isn't racist and dumb. If that's possible.

Why it isn't racist: I don't have that skepticism for Jesse Jackson or Condelezza Rice--they are "real" Americans.

Why it isn't political differences: I don't have that doubt for Bill Ayers or Mitt Romney--they too are "real" Americans in the sense we're talking about here.

Obama just has different birth circumstances. He was also a dual citizen at birth (though he revoked his British citizenship). If you don't understand that latter point you are willfully ignorant or have no immigrants in your own family.

I think what the Left is trying to say here is that "racism" means "Americanism." It's racist to be unequivocably pro-American.

If you're pro-American you are racist in an international sense. Obama has always struck me as more internationalist than American. He strongly believes in many global objectives--just look at his most strident supporters--they do as well.

Looks like Mitt knows what an OODA loop is and is using it against the Obama campaign.Seems someone might be smarter than the elites think.And since I just finished reading "Dreams From My Father" I know someone isn't as smart as the media and he think he is.

Looks like Mitt knows what an OODA loop is and is using it against the Obama campaign.Seems someone might be smarter than the elites think.And since I just finished reading "Dreams From My Father" I know someone isn't as smart as the media and he think he is.

GRage. No, what is interesting is to see that when yankees move to Atlanta they move as far as possible from where blacks live. Safer to call white southeners racists from their safe white bread enclaves. Kind of like little Wisconsins. That is what is interesting.

We birthers believe that the Constitution's requirement that the President be a "natural born citizen," simply means that that person must be the offspring of two citizens. This requirement only applies to the President.

Obviously, Barry's father was not a U.S. citizen.

You Birthers are nuts. Both of Andrew Jackson's parents were born in Ireland.Hoovers Mom was Canadian.Etc., etc.

Classically? No. Africans don't look like Americans, as a rule. If he went there, he'd stand out like a sore thumb. It's not necessarily even in the features, it's in the demanor (of the face), as well. Plenty of "black" Americans aren't considered all that black in Africa. Google George Obama and see the difference.

Well played by Mitt. In judo when you see your opponent limp or protect a wound you step on it. These chicago pussys wanted a street fight and now they got one. I think the obama crew thinks the MSM mamas will be able to protect them now they are in a fight.

No, actually, I don't think the MSM can protect their little jug eared jesus. They can't push the narrative around like they used to. Besides, the Romney camp has figured out that no matter what they do they will be branded racist anyway. So BOMBS AWAY!

I consider it entirely dishonest, for the media, for anybody, to speak about the birther issue if they do not mention the — basic — fact that (like Willie Horton in 1988) the allegedly divisive issue was brought up not by a conservative or by an allegedly clueless redneck from the hicks, but by a fellow Democrat (Al Gore in '88, Hillary Clinton in 2008) during the primary campaign…

Whether the issue is being brought up by a Democrat or by a conservative, in addition, it is hardly ludicrous to be suspicious of a candidate's place of birth (whatever the color of his skin) when his father was a foreigner and when he spent much of his youth abroad…

Why are there some Americans who doubt the narrative that Barack Hussein Obama was not born in Hawaii, or elsewhere in the United States? After all, noone ever doubted that George W Bush was born in the United States or that John Kerry or Al Gore or Bill Clinton or Bob Dole or Ross Perot were born in the United States.

So, isn't this proof that only Obama's color is the only reason for these nutjobs, these racists, these birthers, to claim, preposterously, that Obama was born abroad — or that he is a Muslim, or a socialist, or indeed a communist?

But then, again, neither George W Bush nor John Kerry nor Al Gore nor Bill Clinton nor Bob Dole nor Ross Perot had a foreigner for a father (or for a mother) nor did they spend numerous years of their childhoods abroad — many years, if not most, of which were in a Muslim country.

Should Allen West, or JC Watts, or Thomas Sowell run for president, noone would ask where they were born or demand to see their their (original) birth certificate as proof. But perhaps that is because those black men are Republicans (proving thereby that conservatives are biased)?

Hardly. That is because those African-Americans (emphasis on the "Americans" part) are known to have grown up in the United States and are known to have had parents who were not foreigners — certainly not at the time of their birth (i.e., if either of the parents was born abroad, he or she had become an American citizen by the time of his or her famous offspring's birth). And indeed, it is the same for left-leaning blacks (as it is for whites, left-leaning of otherwise).

Recall that Jesse Jackson tried running for president twice (in 1984 and 1988), and although he did not manage to become the Democratic Party's candidate, noone suggested that he was born abroad, and that for the simple reason that the Greenville, SC, native did not have a foreigner for a father (or for a mother) nor did he spend numerous years abroad. Similarly, it is unlikely that Al Sharpton (who grew up in Brooklyn) would ever be asked for his birth certificate. Neither Baptist minister would be likely accused of being a Muslim, although both might very well be described as socialists, or as communists — and that, for reasons that, in the final analysis, are pretty valid…

Lord--its going to be long two and a half months til Nov 6---so far the racism card is face up on the table, as is abortion--and the Ds dont seem to be talking about recovery and have to trot out Bubba to talk about the economy. >8% unemployment for over 40 weeks, increasing national debt, and declining levels of citizens net worth--we are certainly on the right economic track--which is why abortion and racism are taking center stage with the Ds

RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid “un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

… the difference between the Truthers and the Birthers is that in the first case, we are being asked to believe that 1) hundreds, if not thousands, of government officials were approached with a view to conspire to kill thousands of their fellow citizens, all (or most) of them innocent civilians, that 2) hundreds, if not thousands, of government officials agreed (apparently without a moment of hesitation) to conspire to murder thousands of innocent civilians, and that 3) none of these hundreds (thousands) of government officials has ever had a single, even fleeting feeling of remorse, or let the cat out of the bag, say while having too much to drink (no remorse?) during a Saturday outing to a local bar.

In the second case, we do not even have a conspiracy, but basically one single man telling a falsehood — although it might even be termed a lie of omission — a lie about what offhand is a personal matter, but has turned into the only thing (allegedly) keeping him from power (Update: google The New York Times' Double Standard on Conspiracy Theories).

Most damning of all, when you pause to think of it, the castigators' proof — if it can be called that — all lies in one fact (beyond the recently released certificate of live birth): and that fact is that Obama is a man, a person whose word should never be doubted, who is capable of no lying, no evil, no chicanery. If he tells you that, say, he is a Christian, then how dare you deny he is a religious man?! How dare you imply that he is a Muslim?! How dare you state he is a socialist?!

The person who ridicules the "Birther" theory as inane has no more proof than the born-in-Hawaii skeptic of where Obama was actually born [or didn't have any more proof until over two years into Obama's presidency]: his only argument — beyond the contention that the certificate of live birth and the newspaper clipping are incontrovertible proof that are not, can not be, fakes, bureaucratic mistakes, or misinterpretations — is the indisputable "truth" that Obama is someone whose honesty should not — should never — be questioned. (Whether in regards to his private life or to his political plans for America's future.)[Update: As it happens, we would learn in 2012 (over four years after Obama was first a candidate and over three years after he entered the White House) that a "New Book Raises Questions About Obama's Memoir" (The New York Times' Michael Shear) and that, indeed, it turns out that Obama's memories were a "fantasy (like most of the President's own memoir)" (The Daily Mail). Adds Toby Harnden: "'Barack Obama: The Story' by David Maraniss catalogues dozens of instances in which Obama deviated significantly from the truth in his book 'Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance'. The 641-page book punctures the carefully-crafted narrative of Obama’s life."]

When you think about it, it might be less worrying that some do not believe Obama was born in the United States (because of the circumstances linked to his entire childhood, much of it abroad) than that some are utterly convinced he must be born in the United States (because the Chicago pol is allegedly a sainted figure who can do, who can say no evil, who is incapable of or of lying or of falsifying documents). Again, remember the desires of some of his followers who want(ed) the constitution to be changed, only so Obama could win one election after another and end up, in one way or another and in the best of all possible outcomes, as (de facto if not de jure) president-for-life?

And for those of you think this is a blunder or wasted move, how can we be sure Mitt just doesn't want to twist the knife a little after all the garbage obama has thrown at him the last 4 months? The Romney crowd seems to be gas lighting the excitable obama/msm axis to good effect. BOMBS AWAY!

It wasn't the Republicans that hid Obama's school records in Indonesia, Hawaii, Occidental, and Columbia.

What does a natural born citizen mean? I don't know. McCain was born in Panama, to US citizen parents (his father was performing his duty for the Navy. George Romney was born in Mexico (to US citizen parents). That might be enough, or might not.

Obama's mother was too young to give him citizenship, under the laws at the time. His legal father was not a US citizen. His putative birth in the US is the only way he would be a citizen, baring naturalization. Was he adopted by his Indonesian step father? Would that remove his claim to Natural Born Citizen status? I don't know.

NBC may be a term of art that refers to birth citizenship, or a particular designation beyond birth citizenship that would require, say, BOTH parents be citizens, AND be born in the US.

Of course Obama's natural father may have been Frank Marshall Davis, the communist, molestor and pornographer, and considering Obama's mother was underage when she got pregnant, pinning the fatherhood on BH Obama Sr. may have been a way to protect FMD from prosecution.

It wasn't the Republicans that hid Obama's school records in Indonesia, Hawaii, Occidental, and Columbia.

What does a natural born citizen mean? I don't know. McCain was born in Panama, to US citizen parents (his father was performing his duty for the Navy. George Romney was born in Mexico (to US citizen parents). That might be enough, or might not.

Obama's mother was too young to give him citizenship, under the laws at the time. His legal father was not a US citizen. His putative birth in the US is the only way he would be a citizen, baring naturalization. Was he adopted by his Indonesian step father? Would that remove his claim to Natural Born Citizen status? I don't know.

NBC may be a term of art that refers to birth citizenship, or a particular designation beyond birth citizenship that would require, say, BOTH parents be citizens, AND be born in the US.

Of course Obama's natural father may have been Frank Marshall Davis, the communist, molestor and pornographer, and considering Obama's mother was underage when she got pregnant, pinning the fatherhood on BH Obama Sr. may have been a way to protect FMD from prosecution.

"It's just stupid. Talk about entitlements and the economy. Seems like a rookie mistake."

I disagree. See, he wasn't speaking to the nation, he was speaking to that crowd and that specific place. He was saying "I am one of you, and you know it. We share the same values, we share the same upbringing, we share the same vision for our lives and our children's lives". That is what that meant to say, in my opinion.

There is no place in politics for humor. We're managing to wring all the spontaneity and wit out of our politicians. How dull it will all be when we're forced by killjoys to never smile, never joke, never have fun, never allow our personalities to show.

Isn't this exactly why Mitt has been characterized as dull and staid? Now, he makes a few jokes and there are 195 comments picking it to pieces.

Hey, I laughed when Obama made a cute off the cuff joke. I did, I'm sure I did. When was that exactly?

Not really related but has anyone checked to see whether the Democrats sent Joe (born in the USA) Biden to Tampa before they knew there was a chance it would be hit by a hurricane or did they send him after they heard the city and its inhabitants might be swept away?